Happy mcgarrybowen and Ola encourage people to #SpeakIndian on the 68th Republic Day
Ola, India’s most popular app for transportation, hoisted the Republic Day flag with special fanfare. The company unfurled a campaign it calls ‘Speak Indian’. Described as ‘An initiative to promote local languages’, it was launched with a web film on the country’s 68th Republic Day.
Conceived in partnership with Happy mcgarrybowen the campaign is a reflection of India in 2017: Cosmopolitan, yet rooted to its cultural sensibilities.
“Through its cutting edge technology, Ola is proud to have created a platform that allows hundreds and thousands of people from different backgrounds and cultures meet each other every day. Through various innovations and customizations in its products, Ola has been able to create an environment where customers and drivers are embracing the local cultures and in the process creating new memories and experiences. Our #SpeakIndian campaign demonstrates this, reminding everyone on how Ola is acting as an unifier of people from different cultures.” said Raghuvesh Sarup, Chief Marketing Officer at Ola.
The film features a nuanced set of moments from across the country’s urban and suburban landscape. Tamilians speaking Hindi, Punjabis trying their hand at Kannada, Malayalis making conversation in Bengali… it is a heartwarming and humorous take on contemporary India.
The initiative rides the extra mile with educational content on Social Media, delivering essential phrases and sentences in different languages. “Nothing makes India more beautiful than the cultural mix that we are as a nation. Ola would be amongst the few brands that gets to experience this day-in day-out across the country. Speak Indian is just an effort to celebrate the uniqueness of every local language and culture.” said Kartik Iyer, CEO of Happy mcgarrybowen.
The film, propagated through Social Media channels, saw a positive response and was one of the most shared video on 26th Jan, with users chiming in on its relatability and praising the brand’s effort in the direction.